Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

We at The Plan Collection just received an email from one of our past customers, and with his permission, I'd like to share a little bit about his experiences. It's a success story that will show you just how enjoyable an adventure building your own home can be -- especially if you get things started off on the right foot. I'd just like to highlight a few key points that helped give this project a happy ending: CHOOSE THE RIGHT HOUSE PLANS Like most people, Garry had considered building a home for quite some time, but he had a few concerns: "I had been thinking about building but wasn't sure how it would work on such a narrow lot. I went to Google and just typed 'House Plans < 25 feet wide'. Your site came up. This plan was the third unit I looked at and fell in love with it." Garry also went on to say that, We really liked working with The Plan Collection site for a couple of reasons. We loved all the choices. There were so many homes to choose from. We also really liked the 'Advanced Search' because we had some very special requirements and this search option helped us narrow our choices down to the plan we fell in love with. HIRE THE RIGHT PROFESSIONALS Early on, Garry and his wife chose to hire a professional interior designer -- Annie Florin from HPF DESIGNS -- and that made all the difference. According to Garry: "We chose to work with a designer because of the many decisions that need to be made right up front that affect so many other choices further along in the process. If we had made a mistake early on, we could have easily jeopardized the look of our beautiful home in the end. We chose to seek out a professional who understood the consequences of decisions that needed to be made and what effects it would have to the overall appearance of the home. We chose to go with an independent decorator vs. the builder's 'on site' decorator because we found that the independent would make sure our interests were met, not just that of the builder's. We have heard horror stories of couples getting divorced over building a house. That is such a shame. This project was so easy with the aid of our designer. My wife and I have different taste and the designer was able to hear both of our ideas and bring things together that satisfied both of us. It was so easy we didn't even realize it was happening. I have also heard, 'I wish I would have done this or that.' I can say we have both said I wouldn't change anything. With an investment of this magnitude a designer's fee is probably the best money spent in my opinion, whatever it is." And what makes this story even better is that this particular home actually ended up taking 3rd place at a local Parade of Homes -- along with many other awards, including "Best Kitchen". Here are a few of the photos:

And here is my personal favorite -- the custom fireplace.

All of this amazing interior design was brought to you by HPF Designs, and they also made the custom fireplace, kitchen cabinetry, and the custom desk unit.

Channel for Love

I just saved a Bull Frog in the cistern we are restoring in our 100 year old barn. She is a beautiful creature and has lived there for for perhaps more than a year. But since we are about to do some heavy duty construction on the barn's foundation, I needed to go down through a very narrow hole to retrieve her.

I grabbed her with two hands and looked into her eyes before placing her in a plastic jar to hand to Tom, my husband, who had created a large pool for her in the basement.

A Saint Francis moment, indeed.

Saint Francis moments abound here on Blue Heron Farm, which we call this beautiful place.

We live on the meandering Conestoga River, bringing geese, heron, ducks and bird life to us in abundance. And Frogs, of course.

We have deer

friends who are secure here after our eighteen years of residency.

One friend in particular is a deep brown color and we plant a tomato garden for her and her family every year.

She stands and looks at us in the early spring each year as if to say: Hey! Don't forget to plant my garden!!

Humans are not the most trustworthy species as far as deer are concerned.

The fifth aphorism of Pananjali states: "When a person is steadfast in his abstention from harming others, then all living creatures will cease to feel enmity in his presence."

The deer, racoons, geese, frogs and heron all use our property as a refuge.

They know they are safe and we marvel in their company.

Hanging out with these creatures of God-ess reminds me of Saint Francis and what I call the Saint Francis effect.

My dogs are the recipient of great love in what they teach us in this life time: unconditional love, forgiveness, and great patience in the face of human foible.

The greatest book ever written about Saint Francis is called: "God's Pauper: St. Francis of Assisi" by Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek.

The book was out of print for many years but then was re-published in paperback in 1999. I got a copy as soon as I heard about it, circa 2002.

Reading the book transports consciousness to a mystical perspective.

The prologue of the book serves as an example:

"If I have omitted many of Francis's sayings and deeds and if I have altered others, and added still others which did not take place but which might have taken place, I have done so not out of ignorance or impudence or irreverence, but from a need to match the Saint's life with his myth, bringing that life as fully into accord with its essence as possible.

"Art has its right, and not only the right but the duty to subject everything else to its essence. It feeds upon the story, then assimilates it slowly, cunningly, and turns it into legend.

"While writing this legend which is truer than truth itself, I was overwhelmed by love, reverence and admiration for Francis, the hero and great martyr. Often large tears smudged the manuscript; often a hand hovered before me in the air, a hand with an eternally-renewed wound: someone seemed to have driven a nail through it, seemed to be driving a nail through it for all eternity.

"Everywhere about me, as I write, I sensed the Saint's invisible presence; because for me, Saint Francis is the model of the dutiful man, the man who by means of ceaseless, supremely cruel struggle, succeeds in fulfilling our highest obligation, something higher even than morality or truth or beauty: the obligation to transubstantiate the matter which God entrusted to us and turn it into spirit." Nikos Kazantzakis

Do we all have this same obligation? to transubstantiate the matter which God entrusts to us and turn it into spirit?

Only Nikos Kazantzakis could or would ask that question and have us wonder if we, too, can rise to this test of human potential?

Communing with the animals of Mother Nature these last eighteen years continues to be a spiritual practice: of being riveted in present moment reality, of experiencing compassion and love for all creatures great and small, and in these spaces of infinite awareness, we perceive the fragile preciousness of this world and beyond.

The Saint Francis statue which beautifies the flower garden is also a reminder of this fragile balance.

The Bullfrog in her new home typifies many more hours of grace as we care for her. The dogs know she is here to stay, probably knew this long before I did.

The Saint Francis effect is now clear. All of these years of animal communication and sharing the land and our home, and reading Nikos Kazantzakis's words today, has simplified this.

As we look to the Saints and in this case, Saint Francis for guidance, we are automatically transforming matter into spirit.

God-ess has entrusted this beautiful planet to us, our families, homes, our very lives; may we care and love and transform all of it and ask the infinite realms, which surround us at all times, to help us remember their guiding presence and to learn to access it the moment we ask.

Parental Love

Parental love comes in many shapes and it goes to different lengths for each parent. Parental love has different boundaries – ones that nurture and ones that destruct or paralyze. For most parents; they consciously or unconsciously practise both boundaries. The one we as parents need to be more conscious and cautious of is the latter practice when our love for our children is not nurturing their being but paralyzing.
Are you smothering your child or preventing their natural potential to surface and grow?
Are you enforcing an "illusion" that distraughts their beliefs of life?
Where do we draw the line?
When does our love become paralyzing and when does our love become nurturing?
It's a fine gray line for many parents

to walk on.
Quite often you hear parents say they are doing a certain "action" because they love their children – be it good or bad "action". And how much is too much?
When your child "suffocates"; that would probably be one sign we as parents are stepping into the paralyzing zones. Does "suffocating" your child ever work? I don't think so unless you want their being to die slowly within where they no longer know who they are or what is anymore without scrutinizing everything.
Parents who stay together in an unloving relationship because oftheir children…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children of WHAT IS?
Parents who smother their children and being over protective…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children of their capabilities to TRUST?
Parents who are overly strict with their children…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children's GROWTH and POTENTIAL?
Parents who abuse their children…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children with an illusion of WHAT LOVE IS?
Parents who nag their children endlessly…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children's PATIENCE from being SUPPORTIVE and EMPATHETIC?
Parents who don't give a damn about other people…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children from RESPECTING OTHERS?
Parents who have no sense of self worth and love…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children from SELF WORTHINESS and LOVE?
Parents who live in fear with everything they do…
Are they really NURTURING or paralyzing their children from TRYING THEIR BEST and BEING BRAVE in LIFE?
The list goes on and on. Too much or too little of everything has its consequences – nurturing or damaging.
We are not perfect parents but perfect to the best of our abilities. Sometimes what we think as "being loving" may not always be translated as that by our children. Sometimes we may think "we've done our best"; yet our children do not see as that. Sometimes we think it's in their "best interest" – IS IT? We shouldn't confuse ourselves with "WHAT REALLY IS" and "WHAT I THINK MIGHT or COULD BE" when it comes to our children and "their best interest."
What kind of parents are you?
The nurturing or paralyzing?
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